As Pete strode off in the direction of the bar, Kate spotted Adam looking across at her over the top of people’s heads and he was not smiling. She turned back to Flis trying to blot out his disapproval.
“What are you up to?” she asked her. “I don’t want some philandering Romeo to share a house with. Who knows who I’ll bump into over breakfast in the mornings? You know how often he gets someone new.”
“But he’s gorgeous.”
“Flis, you’re a lost cause.”
“And then I could come over and I’d get to see him more often and he could get to know me. I never get to see him at work stuck over on Goodwood Ward. It’s the back of beyond, socially speaking.”
“Poor old Flis. I’ll tell you what, you give me Jenny and you can have him.”
“Oh, I wish,” Flis said. “But you know, you may not have any other option.” And Kate realised this might be true.
Pete returned with her drink.
“Pete.”
“Yes? Decided to take me on already?”
“No. It’s very kind of you, really, but I’ve got a few other people interested outside of the hospital,” she fibbed, “So I’ll have to get back to you on that. If that’s okay?”
Pete leaned in. “Take all the time you want, Kate. I’m a very patient man.” He winked and Kate laughed at him.
Adam appeared behind him slapping a hand on his shoulder.
“Pete, how are things?” His voice was pleasant, but edgy.
“Adam. Just doing a little negotiating over terms with Kate here. You know Kate, don’t you?” He winked at Kate so that only she could see.
“Yes. Hello, Kate.” His tone changed to gruff, like the consultant who had torn into her that day on the ward.
Pete continued. “And…? Sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” he said, turning to Flis.
Flis’ face lit up. “Felicity. Flis.”
“This is Felicity.” He turned immediately back to Kate and poor Flis’ face fell. “Kate was just trying to work out how quickly she could get me into her house and settled in.”
Adam’s jaw clenched. “I’m afraid that slot’s already taken. Didn’t she tell you one of the consultants’ daughters needs a place to stay? I'm sure I overheard her promising to let Kate know by the end of the day.” He turned to Kate. “Hasn’t she rung you yet? If you like, I could drive you over right now and you could sort it all out?”
Kate looked into his dark fiery eyes. She didn’t know whether to be angry with him or grateful. What on earth was he playing at? But if the choice was staying there or leaving with him, it was easy. “I’ll just get my coat,” she said.
Adam stood by as Kate found her coat and she kissed Flis on the cheek. “Sorry,” she said. “Tell Soph, won’t you?” She laid a hand on Pete’s shoulder and he winked affectionately.
“Have fun,” he called.
Outside, Adam took Kate by the hand and strode off round the corner of the building, dragging her briskly behind him. In the dimly lit car park he turned sharply to face her and hot sparks flew from his eyes. “What the hell do you think you’re playing at flirting around with a man like that?”
Kate was furious. Who the hell was he to tell her what to do? “I beg your pardon?” she said.
“I was watching you. He’s bad news, Kate, and you just let him fawn all over you.”
“I did no such thing! He barely touched me,” Kate snapped back.
“But he wanted to, that was obvious enough.”
“We were just talking,” she said. “Until you came along.”
“And arranging for him to move in with you?” Adam was beside himself.
“And what if I was? I need a new housemate, Adam. Sophie’s moving out in a matter of weeks and I can’t afford to live there on my own.” Her voice softened as defeat sidled in. “I need a new housemate, and sadly Pete might just be my only option.”
Adam was still seething, but he let his voice gentle just a little. “He’s a womaniser, Kate. He’s in bed with a different woman every night.”
Who did he think he was? He didn’t want her, but he was going to make damned sure no-one else could have her either. “So what?” she said in a voice that challenged. “I like him.”
“But you’re too good for him, Kate.”
“But not good enough for you!” Kate stiffened for a moment in defiance, and then wilted. Why did everything have to be so complicated? She searched his deep dark eyes for the truth before diverting her gaze to a nearby tree, unwilling for Adam to see the tears that were starting to collect in her own. The tree billowed in the night wind, buffeted around against its will. She looked back.
Suddenly Adam was upon her, grasping her face in his hands and kissing her as if it was all he had ever wanted to do, as if he couldn’t live another minute without it. “I couldn’t bear seeing you in there with him,” he said. “It was agony.” He leant his forehead against hers. “I wanted to rip his throat out for just looking at you like that.”
A glimmer of hope ignited inside Kate’s heart as she basked momentarily in the warmth of his attention. “Well, at least you hid that well,” she said.
Her sarcasm hit true to its mark. “Okay, you’ve got me. I don’t share my toys well.”
Kate pulled back and looked up at him, her eyebrows raised in question.
“Okay, at all.” He pulled her against him again.
Kate smiled as she rested her cheek against his chest, but then she thought about the words he had used. “Is that all I am to you, Adam? A toy? To be picked up and dropped when you feel like it, because that’s what it feels like.”
He pulled back. “No.”
“I don’t want to be shared, Adam, but I can’t be your toy either. It’s too hard. You like me one day and then you don’t the next. I’m always worried whether I’ve said or done something I shouldn’t have; never knowing if you’ll even acknowledge me the following day at work.”
Adam let out a deep sigh and held her at arms’ length, demanding her full attention. “You could never hurt me that way, Kate. Look at me. I’m no good without you.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t help it, I’m crazy about you.”
“But-”
“No,” he insisted. “Be quiet and listen to me. I know I’ve been a fool not spending every minute I can with you. I thought I could manage without you, Lord knows I tried, but I can’t, Kate. I can’t.”
Kate was uneasy with why he had tried so hard to be without her and so his words did little to settle her gnawing doubt.
“Nothing makes sense when I’m not with you.” His strong arms wrapped tightly around her, crushing her to his chest.
Kate could feel his heart beating against her as the smell of him teased her senses, weakening her resolve. Awareness of his body against hers made molten her sense of yearning, growing more powerful with every second that passed. She reached up and their lonely mouths met, tasting and learning. Desire built, ever more powerful and as necessary as the air that they breathed. Adam pulled back and looked at her. “Let’s get out of here,” he rasped and Kate just nodded.
They drove back to Adam’s in silence. No words were needed now. A physical charge clung between them as the realisation sank in: They wanted each other and they both knew it. The sleek black Audi careered through the streets and back to the road where Adam lived.
In the car park they stopped, Kate’s breath coming hard as she waited for what was next. Adam got out and walked around to meet her. Her heart was hammering like a speeding train as she stepped out of the car and closed the door behind her. She was terrified by the power this man held over her. No–one had ever got to her like this before and it scared her. Her body trembled at the thought of his touch. She looked up at him in the light of the street lamp and for a moment they were lost in each other’s eyes and then, like two poles of a magnet, they collided.
Adam’s lips quenched her thirst as he pulled her body against him. They were a rollercoaster out of contro
l and neither of them had the will to get off. They crashed back against the side of the car, knocking Kate’s elbow and setting off the alarm. Adam burst out laughing as he fumbled for the keys and then he took Kate’s hand and they hurried up to the front door like a couple of teenagers trying to escape. Behind them the car blipped as it shut down, and the night wind stilled to listen.
Inside the warmth of his apartment Adam took Kate’s coat and she could feel his eyes watching her as it slowly fell away from her shoulders. He kissed the side of her neck and she trembled. His hands moved around her, his palms pressed against her aching body. She turned to face him and his lips found hers. Lost without breath, the two entwined, hungrily tasting each other. Adam picked her up and carried her into the living room, their eyes locked together in anticipation. At the door to his bedroom he paused. “I want you, Katherine,” he breathed hotly. “I need you,” and Kate nodded. She wanted this too. She needed him. He walked into his sanctuary and put her down.
Moving quickly, he turned on a bedside lamp, lit the smaller log burner set into the bedroom wall and then more patiently, he walked back across to meet her, leaving her nerves jangling.
Adam picked up her arm and pushed back her sleeve, kissing the elbow he had just injured and it was like diamond caresses; heavenly fire branding her skin with every touch of his lips. He let his mouth trail a damp path down her forearm to her wrist before he kissed the tip of each finger in turn and she was mesmerised. Then he moved a little closer and placed her hand against his chest and let his mouth discover hers. It lingered there briefly, filling Kate’s body with exquisite pleasure as her fingers roamed his body.
His fingers traced a dance down her other arm to her wrist where he placed hot little kisses before taking both hands in his and holding them above her head. His hands slid down and gathered up the edge of her top, and slowly pulled it up and over her head.
He looked at her and Kate felt both exposed and decadently attractive. He kissed the freckles on the top of each shoulder, working his way along her collar bone to the base of her throat. His hands moved back down to the skirt at her hips and pressing flat against her, he pushed her skirt down and it fell to the floor and she was standing before him in her underwear.
“You take my breath away, Katherine,” he whispered.
Kate moved closer to the fire, pulling him gently with her. She started to unbutton the front of his shirt, undressing him slowly, making him wait for her touch. She looked up into his worshipping eyes as inch by inch she removed the clothes from his body and let her fingers glide over the hot skin beneath. He was beautiful.
Standing opposite each other, their gazes met in awe and as hands melted with flesh and lips dared to explore, their breath sprang ragged and uneven. The fever picked up and Adam turned her around and lay her down on the bed behind them and then moved himself above her and paused. His breath was fanning Kate’s sensitive neck as she ached for the feel of his body against hers. She reached up and pulled him down on top of her, and he was hers. The smell of him, the taste of him, Kate was consumed by her senses and her soul surrendered.
Later, as she lay in Adam’s arms, Kate knew that more had happened there that night than a uniting of the flesh. She wondered how she had managed to live the rest of her life without ever knowing such contentment. She felt safe in Adam’s arms, and certain that he wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him.
They lay for some time, saying little, with Adam’s fingers stroking gently up and down Kate’s back and her cheek resting softly against his chest.
I’m sorry if I’m a bit rusty,” he said when at last they had breath enough to speak. “It’s been a bit of a while.”
Well if that was rusty, Kate was definitely willing to hang in there and see how much better things could get. She looked up at his face and then back down again to his stomach, where her fingers were toying with his warm, taut skin. She shrugged. “Maybe you just need a bit more practice?” she teased.
The next thing Kate knew she was lying on her back, pinned down, with Adam’s face millimetres away from her own. She gasped and then giggled. “I was joking. I was joking,” she pleaded. “It was fantastic.”
Adam looked at her sternly.
“Honestly!”
His eyebrow twitched. “No. I’m pretty sure you said I needed more practice,” and he lowered his face to hers and started kissing her again.
Kate playfully begged him to stop, giggling and wriggling to escape. “I’ve got to get a drink,” she said. “I’m so thirsty. You’ve worn me out.” She managed to slip out of bed and grabbing his shirt from the fireside, she wrapped herself in it.
Adam propped himself up on one elbow and looked at her from the bed. “I doubt that very much,” he said, his eyes twinkling. He was studying her, standing there, wrapped only in one of his shirts. Her soft freckled cheeks were flushed and her eyes were sparkling in the fire light. Behind her head, a halo of light from the fireplace spread out its golden glow over her bound-up hair. He got up and walked across to the door and her eyes followed him, appreciatively. He pulled on his dressing gown and walked over and then, reaching around to the back of her hair, he pulled at the pins, releasing it and it fell around her shoulders and down her back like a shining cloak. “There,” he said. “Much better.” And he kissed her on the lips. “My goddess of fire… then a drink it shall be.”
Adam settled Kate into the living room with some still lemonade he found in the kitchen and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders while he lit the living room fire. They cuddled up on the settee and watched the flames flicker as the logs hissed and crackled beneath them.
“So what will you be doing for Christmas?” Adam asked her.
“The usual, I suppose. Christmas lunch with Mum and Dad.”
“And your brothers?”
“Probably not,” she told him. “Marcus is off saving the planet in some remote back-water somewhere - Indonesia, I think it is at the moment - and Jimmy has got three kids, so it’s normally easier to go to him on Boxing Day, instead of dragging them all across here.”
“What about the other one? You said there were three, didn’t you?”
Kate was silent for a moment trying to recollect when she would have told him that. “How…?”
“At the pub out in the sticks. The Monk or something?”
She nodded remembering the meal at the inn. “Oh yes. Jacob. He died when I was twelve,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t-”
“No, it’s fine.” She pulled in a deep breath.
“How old was he when he died?”
“Five. It’s no great innings, is it?”
Adam moved a lock of stray hair across her face and shook his head. “No.”
“He had Downs, with lots of complications. He didn’t respond well to treatment. He was always in and out of hospital and one day… it just wasn’t enough. I guess he was the reason I went into nursing really. I wanted to help other people who might be going through the same thing I was. Maybe try and stop someone else’s brother dying.”
“It must have been tough for you, losing a brother so young?”
Kate nodded. “For all of us. I was in my first year at High School. He was such a sweet little boy too, full to the brim with hugs and cuddles. Jimmy took it the hardest of the three of us, or so it seemed at the time. He retreated into his shell for months on end, while my parents fell slowly apart. Marcus threw himself into books, reading about anything and everything, fact or fiction, he just soaked it all up in a bid to escape. We all had to come to terms with it in our own different ways.”
“But that’s not something a twelve-year-old girl can easily understand,” Adam said.
“No. I think that’s maybe why I’ve struggled to let anyone in… until you.”
Adam was quiet for a minute and then he gave a big sigh. “It isn’t easy, is it?”
“How about you? You’ve had more than your fair share of that sort of thing, haven’t you
? How are you doing?”
“I’m… okay. I mean, I’m not saying that losing my mum on top of everything hasn’t been a killer.” He tried to smile, but not convincingly. “But I’ll get there. She was a wonderful woman, you know. She always kept my feet on the ground. Made me want to be a better person: more giving and compassionate, to be more like her.”
Kate turned round to face him, resting her folded arms across his chest. She took a deep breath. “And what about your dad? I’ve never heard you mention him.”
“Oh, he’s been gone a long time. Since I was little.”
Adam ran his finger down the centre of Kate’s face. “How is it that you are with me?” he asked. “I don’t deserve someone like you. You should be happily married off to some handsome young chap by now. Someone who can give you everything you deserve, not a worn out old grump like me.”
Kate looked long and hard into his adoring eyes. “But I want you.”
The next morning they were woken by Adam’s alarm clock. Kate opened her eyes, startled by the piercing din. She looked around and Adam rolled over towards her and smiled. “Hello, gorgeous. I’m sorry, but some of us have got to work this morning.”
“I don’t,” she told him and rolled back away, pretending to go back to sleep.
Adam nudged her. “No, but unless you’re planning on walking home later, I suggest you get up too,” and Kate groaned playfully and hauled herself to her feet.
Kate was on a late that day and so Adam decided to stay behind at work to catch up on his paperwork, giving them a small time at the end of the day to be together. The following day Kate was on an early and she decided to spend the afternoon trying to find a Christmas present for Adam. But what was she to buy?
She pulled up in the car park in town and spotted Pete on the next level down buying his ticket. She called out. “Pete. I thought you were meant to be on holiday?”
“I am. Exotic, isn’t it? You coming or going?”
“I’m off to town. Got to buy a Christmas present.” She walked down the steps to meet him. “In fact, you couldn’t help me, could you? I’ve got to think of something for Adam.”
By My Side Page 15
